Page 1 - John Belsey

9 Ashbourne House
Lewes Road
Ashurst Wood
East Grinstead
West Sussex RH19 3TB
Telephone 01342 312050 & Email: comer@btinternet.com

10 September 2018
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Dear John,

Application for the Wealden House: EDF site and planned integrated development

This note answers your email of 30 August 2018 at 17.26 and provides evidence, among
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other things, that:
• The current application (DM/18/1548) by Ashgrove Homes Limited (AHL) contains so
many errors, anomalies and breaches of process that it should be rejected and
resubmitted in context with the proposed “integrated development” of an estimated
120 dwellings;
• The repeated assertion that the construction of “50+ units” on the Wealden House:
EDF(WH:EDF) site was the “minimum requirement” or “would be expected” is a
fabrication. It arises from mistakes or negligence (see paragraphs 2.5 et seq). This
should have been detected by Mid Sussex District Council (MSDC) before finalising its
statutory obligations to produce a Sustainability Report and District Plan;

• The Steering Group (consisting of AWVC members and planning experts: see
paragraph 2.3 and Attachment 19) responsible for the 2014 and 2015 Sustainability
Reports (see Attachments 1 and 2) made it clear that the WH sites should be
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developed at a “similar scale” [to Ashbourne Park] “but careful design would be
needed to respect the character of adjoining and neighbouring buildings”;

• The “scale” (represented in terms density of dwellings per hectare or DdHa) of

o Ashbourne Park is 28 DdHa;
o Ashurst Wood village is 3.19 DdHa;

o The average of Category 3 villages (of which Ashurst Wood is part) is 1.12
DdHa;

o Spinney Hills and Willow Trees (an adjacent concurrent application approved
by MSDC) is 10.53 DdHa;

and the proposed development of 71 units is 85 DdHa.

If this scaling had been accurately applied to the WH:EDF site the maximum number of
units would have been around 30 and not “50+” or 71).

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